Trainee IAS Officer Puja Khedkar Recalled To Academy, Training Put On Hold

Mumbai: 

Puja Khedkar, a probationary IAS officer who is under scrutiny over alleged misuse of power and privileges, has been recalled to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie and her training put on hold. This is the first major action against Ms Khedkar who had been transferred to Washim from Pune (where she was originally posted) amid allegations of manipulation of disability and OBC certificates for getting into the civil services. She has been recalled to the training academy for “further necessary action”. 

“You are hereby relieved from the District Training Programme of the State Government of Maharashtra,” said the release from the General Administration Department. She has been instructed to “join the academy at the earliest” but not later than July 23. 

The academy trains civil servants of the IAS cadre and also conducts the foundation course of Group-A central civil services.

The authenticity of various certificates submitted by her to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), one of them indicating visual impairment, is being probed.

Ms Khedkar had earlier submitted two certificates, provided by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital in 2018 and 2021, to the UPSC under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category. She was, however, sent by the UPSC for a medical check-up at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Science. She, however, skipped as many as six appointments between April and August 2022, claimed several reports.